The Story Behind Challenged by You By Tracey Jerald

By Tracey Jerald

Two truths and a lie inspiring Challenged by You:
• I’ve worked in a professional restaurant.
• I’ve run a restaurant group.
• I’ve cooked for celebrities.

If you chose one and three, you are correct! Now, by no means was the restaurant on the level of Seduction New York, but it was a great place to work during my college years. And we fed more than our fair share of golfers from the PGA Tour during Championship Week at that pasta joint on the beach in Florida.

I worked every single position in that restaurant and I did so with pride. I was hired to cook appetizers and desserts, but guess what? People get ill. Sometimes that’s the bartender and sometimes that’s the dishwasher. What was the most fun for me was when I was the line cook and I was slinging around pans of pasta like I was some early day Food Network personality.

Now, how does all of this lead to a single-mom baker falling for a sharp food critic who makes a mistake on a review? For me, it was remembering the back of the house laughter. The crazy person who stole a table. Co-workers whose weddings I went to, baby showers I attended, birthdays I celebrated. In other words, we opened a restaurant as strangers and through laughter and fellowship became a family. And there isn’t anything you won’t do, give up, or fight for your family.

Challenged by You is a humorous, sassy read that brought to life memories from a time too many years ago to name.

And it makes me regret losing touch in the days before the internet.

So, I hope you enjoy my jaunt into Kristen Proby’s Fusion Universe. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there!

PS – if anyone reading this happened to work at Semolina in Ponte Vedra during the late 90s, shoot me an email. I’d love to catch up. And to see if you remember the recipe for Macaroni and Cheesecake.

Tracey Jerald is the author of the new book Challenged By You.

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